I am distraught that the important dialog of this election has been replaced by a popularity contest. My brother is being deployed to Iraq next month. My husband is self-employed, and health-care costs are draining our savings. I stay home full-time to raise my two young daughters. These are the kinds of real-life challenges I want to hear about.

The presidential race deserves thoughtful, studied insight into national and global issues. We owe it to ourselves and our children to know fully who we are entrusting with our future.

The Republican Party's decision, therefore, to thrust an unknown, inexperienced politician into the national spotlight, simply because she is female, is patronizing. This is not a beauty pageant. This election is about the stability of our country in an uncertain world: our economy, our military commitment, our children's future.

Sarah Palin does not stand for women's rights; she would make abortion illegal, even in cases of rape. Palin is not an environmentalist; she would open the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil companies, and she does not believe that global warming needs to be addressed.

Palin is only an anti-establishment "maverick" when it's to her political advantage. Her state has enjoyed plenty of federally funded pork-barrel projects.

Palin's personal crusade, to prove that a "hockey mom" can have it all, is misplaced. Our next president and vice president must be able to intelligently address substantial issues within the international community with clarity and certainty. It is simply not possible for anyone to prepare for the job in two months. Palin is in the wrong place at the wrong time.

POLLY MILLS FIFE

Northfield